BRANDON Ñ One-pass seeding and in-crop nitrogen are simplified once liquid fertilizer starts flowing into the operation, according to Ernie Mee of PolyWest in Winnipeg.
Many rigs still carry only enough liquid for about 40 acres. The field efficiency gained by switching to liquid goes down the drain quickly with frequent fill stops.
One solution offered by Polywest is its Bandit 1,700 US gallon caddy with a single cone-bottom tank. A bigger solution is the Bandit 3,400 US gallon caddy with a pair of cone-bottom tanks mounted on a single cart frame.
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If that’s still not enough, the company has a kit that allows producers to hook the small caddy behind the big caddy to pull 5,100 gallons in the field. This combination provides the largest liquid capacity on the market.
“High capacity liquid caddies are catching on,” said Mee. “Farmers use them at seeding time to deep band their liquid fertilizer. We can outfit any drill up to 65 feet.
“In the summer, you can install the 80 foot boom for in-crop dribble banding, which seems to be becoming more common as producers do tighter nutrient management during the growing season.”
The same unit with the 80 foot boom can also be adapted for field spraying in situations where high clearance is not a factor.
The Bandit is suitable for applying liquid slurry. Mee said they use the same 80 foot boom, but replace the orifices with a system roughly based on the GreenDrop pot system.
“We’ve totally re-engineered that old GreenDrop to eliminate all those leaks that lead to corrosion on the frame. The pot system now has overflow nozzles that run down to the ground so the liquid stays off the cultivator. The same twin-piston John Blue pump that’s standard equipment on the Bandit handles the slurry without a problem.
“We have a lot of irrigators on our client list. When they’re doing a foliage feed, the timing is always critical, so they fill one of our caddies and pull it out to the pivot, hook up the metering system, and they’re in business.”
Mee said the Bandit 1,700 is an upgrade of its previous 1,500 gallon tank. Counting those two sizes together, the company has about 350 of these units on prairie farms.
The 1,700 has a pulling requirement of 35 horsepower and sells for $16,500. Front tires are 16.5L x 16.1 turf or lugged. Rear tires are 21.5L x 16.1 turf or lugged.
PolyWest has sold about 80 of the 3,400 Bandits in recent years. This twin-tank caddy has a 65 hp requirement and sells for $24,500. The twin cone configuration allows an operator or a prescription map to blend on-the-go. It has an onboard three-inch Pacer transfer pump driven by a 6.5 Honda GX. Front tires are 21.5L x 16.1 turf high flotation.
Rear tires are 28L x 26 turf high flotation.
In the two-cart, three-tank 5,100 configuration, they give the 3,400 cart a wider, 150-inch axle to prevent tire tracks from running over each other and causing compaction. The 5100 is new to the market. It has a 100 hp pulling requirement and sells for $32,000.
“The 5,100 caddy is a sensible way to go,” Mee said. “In a normal spring, you can seed a lot of acres with 5,100 gallons of liquid fertilizer in tow. If it’s wet, you just pull the pin and do your seeding with either the 1,700 or the 3,400.”
While most Bandits are sold as pull-behind units, they can be set up as pull-between caddies. Both models come with fifth-wheel hitch steering for better tracking in transit and easy hookup to drills and cultivator frames. The standard equipment telescopic hitch is adjustable from 60-78 inches.
